Table 4.

Fold changes of cytokine gene expression in the livers of broilers after challenged with SE¹.

		Experimental treats
Gene	Age of post-ch2	NC	PC	EXP
IFN-γ	2 d	0.001 ± 0.0001	0.001 ± 0.0001	0.0007 ± 0.0001
	6 d	0.60 ± 0.15b	1.36 ± 0.16a	0.49 ± 0.04b
IL-1β	2 d	0.64 ± 0.19	0.71 ± 0.13	0.89 ± 0.18
	6 d	0.55 ± 0.05b	1.09 ± 0.12a	0.31 ± 0.03b
IL-8	2 d	0.34 ± 0.06	0.78 ± 0.11	0.80 ± 0.21
	6 d	0.59 ± 0.19	1.39 ± 0.21	0.76 ± 0.28
TNF-α	2 d	0.56 ± 0.06b	0.92 ± 0.18a	0.30 ± 0.14b
	6 d	0.83 ± 0.06b	2.51 ± 0.32a	1.00 ± 0.08b

Mean ± SD in the same row with different superscript letters differ significantly (P < 0.05). ¹Each mean represents six birds. NC, birds fed a basal diet without challenged with SE; PC, birds fed a basal diet and challenged with SE; EXP, birds fed a basal diet with C. butyricum (10⁶ CFU/mL) and challenged with SE. ²The days after challenging.